On Representing Christ
The other day, I was signing in at the desk of a retirement home. When you do what I do, this kind of event becomes a rather routine part of your regular schedule - like checking your email, or trying to resist the temptation to have fast-food for lunch.
Usually, I write my name quickly and move on to my visit. But something about this book caught my eye. This guestbook had all the usual columns: “name,” “relation to resident,” “Time in/out.” But it also had another column, one I’d never seen before, labeled: “Representing.” I asked the folks at the front desk, and they said that this column was so that visitors could note who, if anyone, they were representing on their visit (seems relatively straight-forward, eh?). It’s designed for representatives of businesses (e.g. the telephone company, or the cable company, or a lawyer’s office) so that they can note the organization that has sent them for this visit.
At that moment, I was struck by a strong urge to write the word “Christ” in that column. After all, isn’t that one of the big reasons why we Christians make visits to folks? Sure, we visit out of the kindness of our hearts and because we care about the people who we are visiting. And that’s important. But, when we visit, we go not just as ourselves. We’re not just friends. We are also members of the Body of Christ who go in order to represent Christ and proclaim Christ’s love to the people we visit. Indeed, whether we mean to or not, every time that we go anywhere, we Christians are serving as Christ’s representatives. That is part of what being a Christian is - it is serving as a representative of our Lord to a world that does not know him and as a reminder of Christ’s Love to those who need it.
So, as you go about your day today, I invite you to ask yourself: “Who am I representing? Are my actions a good representation of the Christ who I know and worship? If not, what can I change so that I might better represent Christ to others?” We Christians are Christ’s representatives in this world. Let us, by our words and actions, represent him well.
-Brian
